Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for ensuring that wind turbine voltage levels within a wind power plant do not exceed a predetermined security level.
Description of the Related Art
Internal power grids of wind power plants connect individual wind turbines of a wind power plant to a point of common coupling—the latter being the point where power is fed onto a power supply grid from the wind power plant.
In order to do this correctly the impedance of the internal power grid between each of the wind turbines of the plant and the point of common coupling has to be taken into consideration.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, and explained in more details later, the wind turbine experiencing the highest impedance to the point of common coupling needs to generate the highest wind turbine voltage level in order to compensate for voltage drops in the internal power grid. However, by following this approach the highest wind turbine voltage level within the plant may become dangerously close to, or even exceed, an upper voltage level with the risk of damaging the internal grid. Moreover, a long time exposure to a voltage level being lower than the nominal voltage level could result in damages to the equipment. This is due to higher currents in order to keep the power level constant.
The voltage profiles of wind turbines connected to the internal power grid depend on the impedance values and the apparent power flowing through the internal power grid.
It may be seen as an object of embodiments of the invention to provide a method that ensures that a predetermined voltage level within the wind power plant is not exceeded.
It may be seen as a further object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a method that ensures that an overvoltage level and/or an undervoltage level within the wind turbine plant is not exceeded.